Changed
by Clfrd
Summary: How can someone with such a perfect life lose everything he'd ever loved? Troy Bolton had everything he could ever want, when everything just dies in front of him and there is nothing he can do to stop it. Warning: Abuse, Language, and Sexual Content
1. Chapter 1

Don't own HSM.

**Chapter 1**

* * *

The rain gently pattered against the window of the Bolton house, ensconcing the family's only son with peace and comfort. Troy looked out his bedroom window and smiled inwardly; the rain always made him feel happy. Troy secretly reveled in the fact that rain made him happy, knowing full well that everyone else on the planet preferred sunshine. The rain, however, was the only depressing thing that could be connected with Troy Bolton's life. He had great friends, an amazing girlfriend, good grades, the desire of every girl in school, and the envy of every guy. He also had great parents who loved him... sort of. Troy's mom and dad did indeed love him, but his father was a little introverted; he didn't seem to ever want to say much. He also seemed to be a little cranky sometimes... well, all the time. Troy never really took a real concern to the way his father acted, because he did love both him and his mother, and he never provided any reason for either one to distrust him.

Troy turned away from the window and laid down in his bed. As he pulled his covers over himself, he thought about kids that didn't have it as good as he, and hoped that they would all turn out alright in the end. Troy closed his eyes and fell into an easy and restful sleep.

_BUZZ._

_BUZZ._

_BUZZ._

If it were possible for a hand to _look_ disgruntled, Troy's would have as it snaked its way through the nest of blankets that hid the boy from view. It pounded menacingly on the bedside table a few times before it made contact with its target: the dreaded alarm clock.

"Stupid fucking alarm..." tiredly escaped the boy's lips as he drug himself out of his haven of warmth and into the cold abyss that was the bathroom. Troy rubbed his eyes and yawned before stripping out of his boxers and looking at himself in the mirror. He scrutinized himself for having such a fast metabolism. In order to keep his weight up for basketball, Troy would have to force himself to eat twice as much as the rest of his teammates and lift heavy more often than Troy would have liked. _Still... _he thought, _I look pretty sexy. _

Troy yawned once more as he turned on the shower and stepped in, the water successfully waking him up. He got out the shower and went back into his bedroom to get a pair of boxers and some clothes. Not really paying much attention to what he picked, he through on an outfit that seemed suitable enough, or at least to Troy. He didn't really care what he wore, just as long as he was comfortable. And besides, the girls at East High probably wouldn't care what he wore anyway. He smiled at the thought and made his way downstairs to the kitchen, where his parents were already at eating their breakfast.

Troy bid both of them a "Good Morning" and sat down after kissing his mom. He yawned once more and laid his head down on the table, trying to mentally prepare himself for eating breakfast. He really wasn't a morning person. Actually, he definitely wasn't a morning person and being awake this early makes it hard for him to eat. He sighed and slowly sat up, telling himself to get a bowl of cereal so he wouldn't lose any weight or the muscles he gained that the girls seemed to love - especially Gabriella. He stood up and finally got himself a bowl of cereal. As he was pouring the milk, his father, Jack, started telling him about the huge chance of wining they had for the championship game, just as long as the teem kept their heads in the game.

"You have to keep the team focused. If you ever repeat this, I'll deny it, but without you, the team will fall apart!" Jack said a little too loudly; he has always been excited about winning championships. Troy smiled at his dad and chuckled a little. "Yeah, I'll keep 'em focused. And way to make me feel pressured," Troy said jokingly. A glimpse of annoyance could have been seen from Jack before comprehension dawned on him and he smiled back at his son. "Sorry, son." Troy just smiled at his dad and shook his head before turning to his mom, his mind already on dinner. It's very weird how Troy had no desire to eat breakfast or lunch, but when it came to dinner, he was too enthused.

"What's for dinner, mom?" Troy asked, his mind already wandering to chicken, beef, turkey, and everything else that his mother has ever made. Lucy smiled back at her son, glad that he so enjoyed her cooking, and responded, "I don't know yet, honey. What are you in the mood for?" Troy sighed heavily, already deep in thought... "Hmm... well I dunno, anything's good with me." He grinned, "I eat pretty much anything."

Lucy smiled a half-smile, realizing that she still needed to come up with some idea for dinner, but at least Troy would like... whatever it will be. Troy finished eating his cereal and got up to put his bowl in the sink while looking at the clock. "Aw, shit..." he mumbled to himself before looking at his parents. "I gotta go, or I'm gonna be late!" He grabbed his school bag and headed for the door.

"See you tonight, Mom. See you at practice, Dad."

Troy ran out the door and jumped in his truck, heading toward school.

* * *

Troy jumped out of his car, grabbing his backpack and headed toward the door, along with the rest of the students trudging into the building. He jogged up the steps to the third floor, where his locker was, and opened it. He deposited his books inside just as his best friend, Chad, showed up to his own locker which was luckily right next to Troy's. "Hey, Chad! What's up?" Troy asked cheerfully, genuinely glad that he had his friends to take away from the monotony of school.

"Eh, nothing much. Just, you know, going to school." Chad smiled at Troy. Just as Troy opened his mouth to respond, Gabriella walked up, dressed in a skirt that made Troy feel just great.

Troy smiled mischievously at his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hey, Gabs! How was your night?" He closed his eyes and buried his nose in her hair, taking in her amazing scent. "Ahh... you smell... awesome." He took in another deep lung full of his girlfriend before she gently pushed him away, laughing. "Thanks... I think. I'm just so relieved to know that my boyfriend loves me for my smell." She smiled up at him and grabbed his hand, saying, "I had a great night. I finished my final paper for English already!" She said excitedly, before realizing how nerdy that sounded and calmed down almost immediately. "Umm, anyway, how was your night?"

Troy was still trying to quiet his laughter from Gabriella's outburst before he answered amid chuckles, "It was good, too." He happened to look over and notice Chad leaning up against his locker, patiently waiting for them to finish their conversation with a smirk on his face. "Oh, Chad... yeah... sorry." Troy smiled sheepishly at Chad and rolled his eyes and stood up straight. "Don't worry about it, dude. Let's just get to class before Darbus roasts us over a fire." Troy grinned at his best friend and girlfriend before they all walked together to home room.

The trio walked into home room just as the bell rang and they received a glare from Ms. Darbus, the theater teacher and their home room teacher. Gabriella went to the back to sit with Taylor McKessie, her best friend and fellow bookworm, where they immediately started whispering amongst themselves about the latest competition. Troy and Chad, on the other hand, began making their way to their seats near the window and fellow member of the basketball team Zeke Baylor. Troy immediately dropped his eyes to the ground and tried to ignore the smirk on Chad's face as the other girls in home room almost creamed their pants right at the sight of Troy. They finally got to their seats where Troy immediately provided Chad with a light punch on the arm, who responded by evolving his snicker into a full, obnoxious laugh.

Gabriella looked up to see what they were laughing at, and upon seeing Troy's reddening face, smirked to herself and caught Troy's eye. He looked at her with the cutest eyes that looked so apologetic! Her heart just melted at how upset he was making himself. She has every bit of faith in him that he wouldn't cheat on her so she didn't bother getting jealous of what she knew she had. To show him this, Gabriella smiled and winked at him, which elicited an automatic change in his demeanor. He brightened up and grinned back at her.

"Ahem."

This not-even-a-word pierced through everything that had just occurred and quieted everyone immediately. Troy turned around in his seat to face front, and Chad stopped laughing immediately.

"Thank you. This is not recess, you know! And that... noise distracts those who prefer to see the world through silence. A silence that can often be found in the audiences of theatre performances! Ahh, which reminds me: Practice for our fall musicale will start at free period today." Ms. Darbus always knew how to connect everything to the theater. Every time. She also was obsessed with the school musicals, her life and classes revolving around it. Even though Troy was a part of the musicals and did enjoy participating in them very much, he, and everyone else in the room, eventually got tired of hearing the word "musicale." Ms. Darbus smiled joyously at the class and handed out scripts to Troy. Gabriella, Sharpay, and Ryan, who were all playing the leads in the show, _This And That_. It was written by Kelsi Neilson, and was about the true ups and downs of high school. Troy especially liked the show because he could relate so well to it. It wasn't some fairy tale story that was so full of magic and perfect people that no one would believe it. He felt that it would truly touch people in the ways that would bring them back to their high school days, or further solidify the fact that high school will always be the same.

The bell rang just as Ms. Darbus opened her mouth to continue on her rant about the wonders of music and how it speaks to the soul. Gratefully, everyone jumped out of their seats and ran out of the door, silently thanking the bell.

Troy walked out of the classroom to find Gabriella walking toward him. Immediately, he felt a little pang of guilt and started to apologize.

"Gabs, I'm really sorry about earlier. I didn't know that would hap-"

Gabriella put her hand up, a slight smirk on her face. She shook her head and smiled up at Troy, saying, "Troy, listen. It's okay. I mean, who wouldn't want you with the way you look?"  
At this comment, Troy looked at his feet and blushed a little, opening his mouth to say something else, but Gabriella stopped him with a tight hug. "It's okay. I trust you," she breathed into his ear, bringing his smile back to normal.

"Thanks, Gabs. I knew I loved you for some reason," he whispered before chuckling a little.

"Meet me in our secret spot during free period."

That was all that Gabriella said before promptly turning around and walking away, leaving Troy scratching his head. Just then, the starting bell for next period rang and Troy realized he was late. And for math, too...

* * *

Troy ran into the classroom about five minutes late, panting and looking around in almost a panic, hoping he didn't miss much. He couldn't really afford to miss anything, because he sucked at math and it took every ounce of concentration he could muster to get anything right. The teacher, Mr. Mac, looked over at him from the board and shook his head disapprovingly.

"Mr. Bolton, you're late. Why?"

Troy looked at Mr. Mac sadly, mentally kicking himself for being late, but nonetheless answered the teacher's question.

"I forgot to stop at my locker and had to run back to get my book... Sorry."

"Yes, well... try to be on time from now on; you really can't afford to miss any of my class."

Mr. Mac knew very well that Troy struggled with math and didn't want to see him fall behind because he really was a nice kid. Not unlike Mr. Mac, every other student in the class knew that Troy had trouble and did not knock him for it. After all, Troy was the most popular kid at East High. It would just be cruel to tease him like that. Mr. Mac turned back to the board and finished writing an equation down. Troy looked at it for a moment, trying to figure out what that weird looking 'S' next to a few numbers meant. He could remember reading something about it in his book... something about taking the power and flipping it around or adding to it or something... but he couldn't remember. He quietly turned around and walked toward his seat before Mr. Mac's voice sliced through the air.

"Mr. Bolton. Not so fast. Come solve this integration."

Troy sighed and walked back up to the board. He stared intently at the problem before picking up the chalk and doing the only thing he could remember. He brought the power down in front of the variable and subtracted one from the power. He smiled, pretty sure that he had done it correctly. he looked up at Mr. Mac hopefully to see Mr. Mac smirking at the equation.

"Well, Mr. Bolton... you didn't do it correctly, but I'm glad to see you can finally differentiate. In order to integrate, you have to employ the _other_ trick. That is, add one to the power and then divide by the new power." Mr. Mac demonstrated this next to Troy's incorrect answer, and Troy nodded. He actually felt a small amount of happiness at finally learning how to differentiate, but was still kicking himself because he couldn't integrate. He sighed and looked at the right answer one last time before looking back up to Mr. Mac.

"Oh... right, sir. Sorry."

"No big deal. Just keep working. You can take your seat now."

Troy walked past the greedy eyes of the girls and sat down in his seat. He took out a piece of paper and pencil and began writing the correct equation into his notebook, making a mental note to study it later on that night. Mr. Mac then went on to begin teaching about something that Troy couldn't even visualize. Something about twirling shapes around the number line and then finding the area and volume of the solid. Troy just shook his head, wondering why someone in their right mind would ever want to do math like that. Troy looked back down to his notebook, already not listening because he knew whatever was being taught was way beyond his grasp. He thought that he would confuse himself even more by trying to pay attention.

So his thoughts turned elsewhere. to Gabriella, to be exact. Troy closed his eyes and he thought about the way his girlfriend walked down the halls, and the way her legs moved, and her hair and the way she smelt and how it felt when she touched him and. Well, the list could go on forever as far as Troy was concerned. He was completely and utterly in love with this girl. Just the thought of Gabriella made Troy begin to feel a bit of longing in his boxers. Shit, he wanted her bad. Troy grinned to himself, remembering that he was supposed to meet Gabriella on the rooftop garden next period. Free period. Troy sighed longingly when the bell suddenly rang.

_Fuck that class was short. I must have been daydreaming for a long time._

Troy excitedly got up from his seat and headed out the door straight toward the staircase that would bring him up to the roof.

* * *

Gabriella was sitting by herself on a bench on the roof, quietly waiting for the arrival of Troy. She had been thinking about him all day, and wanted to make sure he knew she loved him and trusted him. After all, those dumb girls knew Troy was dating Gabriella and they continued to undress him with their eyes every day. Gabriella was so used to it by now, but apparently it still bothered Troy. Or at least made him nervous. _Weird_, she thought, _how someone so hot could be so self-conscious._ Just then she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and sure enough, Troy had arrives, breathing a little heavily and still carrying his books. Gabriella smiled at him and stood up, walking over to him.

"Gabs, I'm-" He began, only to be quieted by a deep kiss from Gabriella. He looked a little confused by the kiss, but nonetheless quieted and looked at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not mad? I really do trust you!" She laughed at him. "C'mon, it happens to you every day! I'm so used to it I just can't get jealous anymore. And besides, I know you would never cheat on me. You're just too nice a person."

Troy smiled appreciatively at her and said, "Thanks, Gabs. I love you." Gabriella grinned at him and replied, "I loved you too." Then, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. Troy closed his eyes and reveled in the taste that was Gabriella. He took in the scent of her hair and the way her curves felt against his body. He sighed, granting Gabriella's tongue passage into his mouth. Troy was completely fine with that, and began to explore her mouth with his own tongue. Soon, the two were fighting for dominance of the kiss, a deep moan escaping Troy's throat. Gabriella heard this and her hands began to feel every inch of Troy's body, taking in the feel of his chest against her fingers. Her hands began to travel lower and lower down his body until they were at his waistline. She slowly unbuttoned his pants, hearing a deep moan escape his lips. She smiled inwardly at how she could turn this strong man to putty in her hands. She eventually found her way into his boxers and began stroking his member lightly, earning another moan of ecstasy from her boyfriend. Troy began to fondle Gabriella's breasts, gently rubbing her nibbles until they were hard. He then unbuttoned her blouse and unclasped her bra and let it fall down to her elbows, revealing Gabriella Montez in all her beauty. It made Troy go wild!

Gabriella continued to stroke Troy until he began completely hard and started pumping with a perfect rhythm. Troy bucked his hips deeper into her body and his breath started to hitch uncontrollably. He continued to fondle her, then kissed her so deeply, a small moan escaped her own lips, causing a smile to tug at the corners of Troy's very busy mouth. Troy mumbled, "Ah.. Gabs..." into his girlfriends hair and could feel a pressure building deep within him. "Mhmm... Fuck... I'm... I'm gonna..." he whispered raggedly into her ear.

Just as Troy was at his point of bliss, Gabriella let go with a horrified look on her face. "Oh, no!" She nearly screamed, "We have to get to practice! Shit, I totally forgot!" She hurriedly replaced her bra and blouse, while looking around for her notebook. She picked it up and looked back to Troy, and upon seeing his face, nearly wet herself with laughter. Troy looked like he... well like he didn't finish in time.

"Fuck, Gabs..." He said as he pulled his boxers up over his still extremely hard dick. "You think about play practice at... at a time like _this_?" He sighed in exasperation as he pulled his jeans back up to his waist and looked around for his books. He turned around to pick them up and felt Gabriella warp her arms around him. "Aww, I'm sorry." She said as she lightly nipped his ear. "We'll finish later, I promise. But we really do have to go to practice! We are two of the leads, after all, and Darbus will hang us for being late!" She looked at Troy's grumpy looking face and smiled softly at him and kissing him lightly on the lips. "I promise."

Troy sighed again and nodded his head, still trying to calm himself down. He _really _hoped he didn't get blue balls for this, but he could already feel the slight pain in his dick. He huffed out a lungfull of air and smiled a half-smile at Gabriella. "Okay... Let's go to practice before we get into more trouble." He grabbed her hand and they walked down the stairs together.

* * *

Ms. Darbus looked up at the clock, annoyance tugging at her features. Troy and Gabriella had a knack for being late for things, but that did not change the fact that she hated tardiness. She turned away from the clock and back to the students who deemed it important enough to practice for the fall musical.

"Now, patrons of the arts, we will start the practice by warming up. Everyone, separate into groups of two and proceed to do... the rag doll." Ms. Darbus finished the last part of her sentence with a huge flourish, dramatically drawing out the words 'rag doll.' Everyone seemed to roll their eyes at Darbus, but she did not notice. Ryan and Sharpay Evans immediately broke off into a pair and started dropping their upper bodies forward so that their waists were at a ninety degree angle. They then slowly, effortlessly, and perfectly drew their upper bodies up to stand up straight and tall. Chad, who was alone with Zeke because Troy conveniently decided to disappear during free period with Gabriella, looked around the auditorium, hoping that maybe Troy and Gabby would walk in late. He finally gave up in his hoping and started to mimic Sharpay and Ryan, who always seemed to be able to do everything concerning the shows perfectly. Too impatient to say silent any longer, Chad shot up and looked at Zeke with an annoyed look on his face.

"Where are they?

"Who?" Zeke asked, while trying to pick his upper body up without moving his legs or falling over, a feat that proved to be impossible for him. He finally gave up and just sat on the stage by Chad, who followed suit and sat next to him.

"Troy and Gabby! They're late. What could they possibly be doing that's so important that they need to miss practice?

"How do you even know if they're together?"

"Well... they're dating! They're attached at the hip!"

"Yeah, well... maybe they're just catching up with homework or something."

Chad groaned in aggravation at the thought of Troy and Gabriella ditching practice and leaving Chad and Zeke to suffer with Darbus. Sharpay suddenly walked over to the two and sat down with them, followed by Ryan. Even though she was a Diva at times, she was actually a very close friend to Troy, Gabriella, Chad, and Zeke. And even though Ryan was usually pretty quiet, he was always reliable as a friend and confidante to any member of the group. Sharpay had overheard Chad and Zeke's conversation and was getting fed up with their dumb boy conversation. Didn't they see what was going on? "Well, Chad, if you ask me, Troy and Gabriella were probably on a little 'mini-date'."

Chad looked over at Sharpay with an incredulous look on his face. "Well hello to you too, Sharpay. And what do you mean, a mini-date?" He had to smile in spite of himself because, even though Sharpay was a Diva, she had a knack for knowing things and was never ever afraid to speak the truth, regardless of who it might offend. Sharpay smiled back knowingly at Chad and Zeke and just shook her head. Zeke and Chad both scrunched their brows in confusion at Sharpay's mysteriousness when suddenly, Troy and Gabriella ran into the auditorium, yelling about how they were sorry about being late.

Troy looked a mess. he looked like he had just been in a hurricane, and he looked flustered, a red color encroaching on his ears. Gabriella, who looked a little disheveled but not as bad as Troy, had a look on her face like she was about to laugh. They both went over to the group and sat down. Gabriella seemed perky and smiled at all of them before offering a warm hello. Troy, on the other hand, just sat down and grunted grumpily at them all. Chad looked at Troy and asked, "Where were you two? You left all of us here to play doll house! No fair!" Troy just looked at Chad with an evil look in his eye. "We were... talking... to each other," was his response, at which Gabriella nodded enthusiastically.

Chad raised an eyebrow and looked at Zeke. They both looked back at Troy with dumbfounded looks on their faces. Then, a look of understanding filled Chad's eyes as his face softened. He just nodded, said, "Oh, okay. Well you're here now, so I guess we should practice." He stood up and motioned for the rest of the group to stand up as well, Zeke still with a confused look on his face, and Sharpay still sporting her all-knowing look. Just as they were about to start warming up again, the bell signaling the end of the school day rang. Troy, Chad, and Zeke walked out headed toward the gym, while Gabriella left with Sharpay and Ryan, headed to their lockers to get their bags and go home.

* * *

Once in the locker room and alone, Chad went up to Troy and sat next to him, looking at him expectantly. Troy just looked at Chad with an annoyed confused look on his face. "What?" He asked, wishing Chad would leave him alone because his blue balls were still bothering him and he just wanted to go home and furiously masturbate. But he still had to practice because, like his dad said, he needed to keep the team focused on winning the championship. Chad looked at him with a dumb expression on his face. "What were you and Gabriella doing?" Troy just shrugged and turned away to tie his shoe. Chad grabbed Troy's shoulder and applied a little pressure to make Troy look at him, his expression now one of amusement. "Well you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Just one question. Did you have fun?" Troy gave Chad a look of disgust and said, "What the fuck are you..." A look of comprehension dawned on his face and he shook his head at Chad. "Oh... well if you _must_ know, no. I didn't have _fun_," he said sarcastically, hoping Chad would understand what he was trying to say. Chad sat back and sighed, looking at Troy sadly. "Aww fuck, man. Sorry to hear about that."

"Bolton! Danforth! Get out here now!"

"Oh shit," said Troy, standing up now. "We better go. I'll be late for another thing I shouldn't be late to..." Chad nodded and stood up, following Troy out of the locker room into the gym, where the rest of the team was waiting and Coach Bolton was looking a little peeved.

"Hurry up you two! We're wasting time!"

Chad and Troy nodded and joined the rest of the team. As practice began, Chad and Troy stuck pretty close together. Troy was at least grateful that it was only Chad who figured it out. He knew that Chad would never ever tell anyone something that personal, and soon the two were laughing about it. As practice progressed and everyone began to get tired, Troy found himself losing track of what he was doing and daydreaming about Gabriella. Man, did he lover her. She really understood him and the two really were best friends. She wasn't just there for him to let his sexual tensions loose. He could talk to her about anything and everything and she wouldn't judge him. That's why the two had been such good friends for so long before they started dating. Troy stopped running when he realized that Gabriella and Chad were really alike. He knew he could tell either one of them anything, but certain things were better to tell only one of them. He knew Gabriella would be upset if she found out Chad knew about his and her little 'talking' session during play practice, and he was pretty sure that Chad wouldn't want to hear him complain about his math issues. He smiled at the thought that he had the best girlfriend and best best friend that anyone could ask for.

Suddenly, a fellow student through the ball to Troy and it hit him square in the face. Troy fell to the gym floor, rubbing his face and cursing under his breath. Coach and Chad ran over to him and helped him up, asking him if he was okay. Troy nodded and continued to rub his cheek. Chad then promptly started to laugh, replaying the image of the great Troy Bolton getting hit in the face with a basketball. Coach Bolton cleared his throat angrily at Chad, and Chad stopped immediately, saying "I'll, uhh, go run some suicides." At this, Chad ran to the opposite net and began his suicides. Jack looked at his son, annoyance clearly displayed across his face. Troy looked up at his dad and shrugged, looking apologetic. "Sorry, Dad. I guess I wasn't paying attention." Jack just put his hand on his sons shoulder and stared like he was looking into Troy's soul. "Troy. You have _got_ to get your head in the game! Without you, the team will lose for sure! C'mon Troy!" Troy just looked apologetically at his father again and walked into the locker room to get changed.

* * *

After an extremely strenuous day at school, Troy walked into his front door to find a roasted chicken waiting for him on the other side. "Oh, Mom, this smells great!" he said excitedly as he sit down next to his father for dinner. She smiled at Troy, but looked a little tired. Troy noticed this and asked, "How was your day, mom? You look really tired." She nodded as she sat down and served herself some food. "Yeah... it was a long day. We had a very pugnacious patient today and I had to keep him happy. All. Day." She sighed and started eating. "Aww, Mom, that sucks. But at least you're making good money nursing, right?" Troy said with a laugh.

Jack smiled a little at his son's comment, because he liked the aspect of having a little bit of money in his pocket. He looked up from his plate and smiled at his wife. "Hey, Lucy, you're home with a family that loves you. You get to take a breather tonight before you have to go back to work tomorrow and do it all over again. But remember, you can do anything for eight hours. Hey! You can even look forward to coming home to see Troy and me," he finished and looked at the love of his life, truly amazed at how gifted this woman was because she could do just so much with so little time.

Troy just smiled at how in love his parents were, just so long as they didn't start having sex in front of him. It's bad enough he knew they had to create him at one point. Gross, thinking about you're parents doing that kind of stuff when you're in the other room. Troy glanced up at the clock and, after asking to be excused, put his plate in the dishwasher and went upstairs. On his way up, He yelled back to his parents that he had homework to do and disappeared into his bedroom.

Troy sat down on his bed and pulled his math notebook from his schoolbag and tried to understand what he had written earlier during class, but couldn't remember any of it. Why couldn't he remember math? Troy groaned and closed his book. He just didn't understand why he couldn't understand things the way Gabriella could. Gabriella. Troy began to think about earlier that day, getting aroused at the thought of it. he completely forgot about his blue balls when he got hit in the face with the basketball, and now all he wanted to think about was how amazing Gabriella was. He reached over to his phone with the intent on calling her and talking to her for hours, but he could hear a lot of noise coming from downstairs, so he got up and walked out of his room.

* * *

Troy walked down the stairs to find his mom lying on the couch, looking worse then she did at dinner, with a cloth covering her nose, which seemed to be bleeding. "Mom, what happened to your nose?" Troy asked, walking over to her with a concerned look on his face. "Oh, it must be from all the stress of today. It's just a nosebleed. I'll be fine." Lucy sat up, still covering her nose, and smiled at her son. Troy was just about to ask where his father was when he heard heavy footsteps coming from the other room. Troy turned around and saw his father glaring at his mother with the worst look possible. Lucy looked at Jack, but it seemed like she wasn't quite as surprised as Troy to see him like that. "Honey, what's wrong?" she asked innocently.

"This."

And troy saw his father holding a small bag of white powder.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! And I don't own HSM.

**Chapter 2**

Troy looked between his sobbing mother and his enraged father with a dumbfounded look upon his face. So many questions were flooding into his head; he was dying to know the answers but didn't ever want to hear them at the same time. He shook his head violently from side to side, trying to clear his mind and maybe, just maybe, look back up and learn that he had been imagining everything. Finally, he somehow found the willpower to speak, but only the fragment of a question found its way out of his mouth.

"Wha..."

Suddenly, Troy felt something hard his his shoulders. He turned to find the wall staring back him; he must have been backing away from his parents.

Jack looked at the bag in his hand, then back at his wife. He opened his mouth to form a question, but Lucy cut him by jumping out of the couch and running toward him.

"Jack, please! It's not what you think!" Lucy breathed helplessly, hoping that Jack would be understanding. Jack's only response was to set his jaw and ask through his teeth, "Then what is it?" Lucy wiped at her eyes to try and stop the tears that inevitably fell anyway. She made at attempt to grab the bag from her husband. Maybe by taking the bag, Jack wouldn't be as angry, since he was the one holding it. Of course, she knew that would never happen, but being in the state that she was in made her believe in anything. Jack pulled the bag out of her reach and just stared at her with empty eyes, waiting for her response.

Lucy looked up at her husband with the deepest sadness in her eyes, wishing that none of this had every happened, that she could go back seventeen years ago and stop herself from starting down this road of addiction. "Please Jack... It's..." Realizing that it was indeed exactly what Jack thought it was, sighed and dropped her eyes. This display of confirmation from his wife was enough to make Jack almost explode. He through the bag onto the floor. he just couldn't hold it anymore. Returning his glare to his wife, he asked, "How long has this been going on?"

Jack saw Lucy flinch at the question, and immediately began to fear the worst. Lucy looked back up to her husband, then over to Troy, who had been motionless against the wall during the entire conversation.

"Ever since Troy was born. I started after I went back to work. I took on more patients and hours and I needed something to take the stress away. And it worked. It worked. We had a great last seventeen years." Lucy smiled at her son, who just stared back at her in disbelief.

Jack turned to look at Troy with pure anger in his eyes, then he looked back at his wife. Troy looked into his father's eyes and saw something break within his father. He wasn't sure if he liked what he saw anymore. Jack just looked at Lucy, trying to keep his face expressionless, and said, "Get out." Lucy's face faltered and she looked genuinely scared. She stood up, a fresh sob wracking through her body, and took a few steps toward Jack. She put her palm on his cheek and looked hopefully into his eyes."Jack, please, everything can be normal again. Just please give me a second shot." Jack looked at her, a look of hope now in his own Lucy glanced down to the bag that lay unscathed on the floor.

Absolutely everything that hadn't already broke now shattered to dust in Jack's eyes. His face contorted into one of disgust and he shoved his wife away from him, causing her to stumble back into the table in the center of the room. Troy, who had been practically glued to the wall, watched everything unfold between his parents, and when his dad shoved Lucy, even though he felt she may have deserved it, also remembered that she had given birth to him. He finally stepped away from the wall and went up to his dad. He put his hand on Jack's shoulder and pulled at it gently.

"Dad... please calm down."

Troy knew that his father would not calm down. He knew that he himself would not be able to calm down, that this one moment in time had successfully ripped their family apart. When Jack did not respond to Troy's plea, he repeated his statement and once again tried to get his dad to either sit down or step away from his mom. "Dad, just... just let her leave." Jack turned around extremely suddenly and slapped Troy across the face, causing Troy to immediately drop his hand from his father's shoulder. Troy once again was lost for words as he slowly raised his hand to his cheek. It hadn't really hurt that much and was nothing he hadn't felt from falling or getting hit with a basketball, but the fact that his _father _had just hit him shocked him. He took a step back just as Lucy crawled over to the bag on the floor and grabbed it. Jack saw this and finally screamed an unrecognizable sound and ran at Lucy. Troy didn't know what to do, so he watched as Lucy barely made it out of the door.

Now Troy looked at his father who just sat down on the couch with his head in his hands. He wanted to comfort his dad, but thought better of it and just retreated to his bedroom upstairs. He sat down on the edge of his bed and looked down at his hands, unsure of what to do. What did someone do in a situation like this? He just continued to stare at his hands with a blank look on his face, until he felt something in the back of his throat. he wasn't sure what it was and ignored it. Suddenly, a sob ran though his body, and just like that, Troy was crying uncontrollably on the side of his bed. Ironically, Troy was relieved that none of his friends were able to see him like this. He finally laid down on his side and tried to calm down a little. He closed his eyes, but he continued to cry. He felt like someone had ripped his organs out of his body. How could something like this happen to him and his family? It was unfathomable. Troy took a deep breath, now understanding what it was like for someone to feel the end of their world. Eventually, Troy drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Troy laid on his side, staring at his clock. _6:28_. He had been awake for hours, but was waiting for his alarm to go off so he could get out of bed and get ready for school. He sighed into his pillow, remembering the events that transpired the previous night. He almost wanted to cry again. He had lost his mother, even if she was a coke addict, and he didn't know what status he had with his father now. He had no idea what to think of his father anymore. Troy had never been his by his parents before. Ever. Sure, he had been bad or broken something or had a temper at times when he was younger, and even now as a teenager. But that was what children were supposed to do to their parents, right? That was just the way they acted. That doesn't mean that they deserved to be hit. Troy dropped his current thought, because he realized that his father had been under a lot of stress and probably did not mean or intend to hit Troy. Besides, it was only a little slap to the face, right?

_6:29_

Troy stared back at the neon-like light that shined into his eyes, and wondered what it would be like to be an inanimate object. Yeah, dumb, but if he were, say an alarm clock, he wouldn't have to feel any of what he was feeling or even worry about a fight, because all he knew he had to do was go BUZZ in the morning at whichever time someone set him to go off. He closed his eyes, blocking out that thought because that was unrealistic and he knew he would always be human and never an alarm clock.

Just as the lights clicked to 6:30, Troy's hand shot out and silenced it before it could even make a sound. He sat up on the edge of his bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked at his pants and realized he had never changed from the night before. He slowly stood up and stripped of all of his clothes while heading toward the bathroom. he didn't bother to look in the mirror before jumping into the shower and letting the water flow over his body. He quickly washed himself, got out, and began drying his hair. Once he was done, he looked in the mirror to see a handsome face with bloodshot eyes and large circles underneath. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, unsuccessfully trying to make himself look more awake and less miserable. He padded back to his room and found a clean pair of boxers and some clothed to put on. He grabbed his school bag and his abandoned math copybook and headed down stairs to see if anything was different.

Though he had his hopes up, nothing was moved from the night before. And no one was in the kitchen. Troy craned his neck to see if his father was anywhere in sight, and found that he was nowhere to be found. He walked into the kitchen and made himself a bowl of cereal. Without the need to implore himself to eat, he finished his bowl within a minute. He looked around once more for his father before putting his bowl in the sink and headed out the door for school.

Troy got into his truck and started the engine, but just stared at the dashboard, deep in thought about his father. Should he go to school? Or look for hi dad? troy ultimately decided on the former because he knew his dad would be fine, wherever he was, and that he was an adult. He silently changed gear and pulled out of the driveway.

* * *

As Troy pulled up into the school parking lot, he spotted Chad by the main door, just standing there. He probably was waiting, Troy concluded before grabbing his bag and getting out of his truck. He walked toward Chad, who looked up and smiled.

"Hey, Troy! Pumped for school today? Gonna hang out with Gabriella during free period again?" Chad asked, with a suggestive inflection placed on 'hang out'. He laughed at his own comment and looked at Troy, expecting a response. Troy just looked at him with a blank stare. It took him a few moments for his brain to start working and tell him that he needed to act normal. It's not that Troy didn't trust his friends. he was just unsure of whether he was ready to tell them that his family was broken. He smiled, silently thanking the acting skills he picked up from doing musicals, and laughed at Chad's comment.

"I dunno... maybe. Depend on what Gabs says when I see her."

"Hey, you alright? You get enough sleep last night?" Chad suddenly asked, looking at Troy's eyes with slight concern written over his features. Troy remembered how bad he looked and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, dude. Just tired. I couldn't really sleep last night. Don't know why." He shrugged, trying to drop the topic. Chad seemed to find Troy's answer acceptable and started ranting about basketball practice again and how psyched he was for the championship game. Troy pretended to listen but his mind was again on his parents. Where was his dad? Where was his mom? Was she okay? Did she find somewhere to stay? And then Troy stopped in his tracks as he asked himself another question.

_Am I ever going to see my mom again?_

Chad stopped with him, expecting to see something that had made Troy stop. Failing to do so, Chad looked back up and Troy and waved his hand i front of Troy's eyes.

"Hello? You okay, man? You just... stopped."

"Yeah, fine."

Troy started walking again, and Chad just followed, wondering if sleep deprivation can cause you to stop walking. he made a mental note to ask his girlfriend the next tie they went out. The two finally made it to their lockers and both emptied they bags. Without saying much, Troy grabbed his needed books and headed off to Darbus's room with Chad. As they entered the room, Troy walked to his seat, not even noticing the stares that yesterday made him so self conscious. He sat with Chad and Zeke, but pretty much kept to himself. He glanced back at Gabriella who smiled at him and waved. He almost forgot all of his worries when he smiled and waved back. Almost.

The bell rang and Ms. Darbus stood up. "Everyone. Homeroom has begun!" With those simple words, Darbus caused the entire class to look at her and stop talking. With her usual flamboyant gestures, she began to voice the daily announcements. Troy took this opportunity to look at Gabriella one more time, because she seemed to distract him from last night's happenings. He turned back around, afraid to actually say something for fear of Darbus's wrath. He had stopped listening to the announcements a long time ago and began to drift off to sleep. It's always so weird how you can't sleep at night if something happens, but then you just seem to fall asleep at the drop of a hat in school. Is school really that boring?

Suddenly, there was a loud CRACK in front of Troy. Ms. Darbus just hit his desk with a ruler, causing him to jolt back to reality. "Mr. Bolton, maybe you should try to get more sleep at night, hm?" She told him, but not taking any action because he was normally such a good kid in school. "Yes'm" was all that escaped his mouth when he looked up at her.

"Anyway, one last announcement. Basketball practice, which is usually held after school, is canceled. Your coach is absent today."

At this, Troy was actually a little surprised because he had forgotten that his dad needed to go to school too. He looked at Chad who looked at him with a confused look, asking, "Where's your dad today, Troy?" Troy wanted to say 'I don't know,' but he nodded his head instead, saying, "Yeah, uh... He hasn't been feeling well. That's... uhh... actually why I'm so tired. I was up taking care of him."

Chad shrugged, said 'oh,' and went back to talking with Zeke. Troy really surprised himself. He had just lied through his teeth. When he took the time to think about it, he couldn't really see why he lied. They would understand if he just told them the truth. They would probably help him feel better, too. He sighed and shook his head. No. He wasn't ready for them to know that his mom has been a secret coke addict since he... A horrible thought occurred to Troy. Was it his fault that his mom was a coke addict and his dad now had no wife?

No. He couldn't think like that. That wasn't his fault. His mom made her own choices, and she had to live with her own consequences.

Just then, the bell rang for the end of home room. Troy got up, along with everyone else in the class, and walked out of the room, heading toward their first class. Troy hated his first class: Math. Every day he had to go to that class and not know how to do anything! Oh well, it was only math. It wasn't like he was ever going to use it in the future. He hoped.

"Hey, wildcat."

Troy turned around to see his girlfriend coming toward him and he was smiling again. "Hey, Gabs. How are you?" He asked as he hugged her tightly, appreciating that nothing about her has changed.

"I'm good. I read another chapter in my history text book."

Troy laughed. "Ooo, sounds fun," he said sarcastically with a wink.

She playfully hit him, laughing. "Hey! Maybe you should study some time!"

"I do! It just doesn't work..."

Gabriella smiled and kissed him. "Hey, I can't meet you today during free period. I have to work on the yearbook with Taylor."

Troy shrugged and smiled at his girlfriend. "That's fine. We should hang out tomorrow night, though," he said with a suggestive wink.

She smirked at him and said, "Oh, we most _definately _need to hang out tomorrow." She looked around to make sure no one was looking, as it was getting close to the beginning of next class; the hallways were emptying fast now. Then, she proceeded to kiss his neck, lightly nibbling until a light mark appeared. Troy was ecstatic. Usually he gave her hickeys. In fact, he never had one, let alone one from Gabriella. He smiled at her when she looked up at him and kissed her again as the bell rang for the start of second class.

"Well, I guess we better get going."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow. And get some sleep. You look really tired!"

Troy nodded and said bye as he ran down the hallway and into his math class, where Mr. Mac seemed to be waiting for him.

"You know, Troy, if you would come to class on time you might learn something."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I'll go sit now."

Troy walked back to his seat, feeling the eyes on him again. He sat down and made the mistake of looking up at another girl, who was watching his hickey in a disturbingly horny way. Troy just blushed and looked down at his book, trying to cover the hickey.

Class seemed to pass as normal. Troy trying to understand the math and failing miserably. Girls staring at Troy relentlessly. And the teacher... well, teaching. At long last the bell rang and Troy didn't think he could have been happier. He pretty much floated through free period and the other classes of the day, more than ready to go home when the bell rang for the end of the day.

As Troy got to his locker, he saw that Chad was already there.

"Yo Troy, you wanna hang out tomorrow?"

"Nah, I can't. I'm going out with Gabs."

Chad shrugged and grabbed the last book he needed. "Oh, well. How 'bout Saturday?"

Troy thought to remember if he was busy on Saturday. He was supposed to go buy food with his mom, but he wasn't busy now. He nodded his head, "Yeah, I'm free."

"Awesome. Have a good Friday night," he said suggestively. "By the look of your neck, it seems like you're gonna have a _great_ time."

For about the hundredth time, Troy blushed and Chad just laughed. "See you later," Chad said, patting Troy on the shoulder and walking down the stairs.

"Yeah... see ya."

* * *

Troy walked into the house to find it still empty. Wondering what had happened to his dad, he went up to his room and tried to understand his math. Just like every night since the beginning of time, Troy did not understand it and tried helplessly anyway. After some time, he began to think about what he and Gabriella would do on Friday night. What would they do? Would they just stay home and... talk? Or would they go out? Just then, Troy's stomach growled violently, and he realized that about two hours had gone by since he had gotten home at three, and he needed to eat. He got out of his bed and went downstairs, worry starting to really nag at him because he hadn't seen his father all day. After he ate, he would go out and start looking. He couldn't lose both of his parents in two nights. He wouldn't let that happen, so he had to find his dad tonight.

Troy opened the fridge and looked inside, hoping to find something to eat. There really wasn't anything that was worth eating, so Troy settled to make a sandwich. He sat down at the table and began to eat. Alone. He sighed, really angry that everyone was just.. gone. Troy looked down at his sandwich, contemplating the reasons why all of this shit happened to him. His head shot up when he heard the door slam shut. Someone must be home! Out of excitement, Troy ran into the front room and saw his dad.

"Dad! Are you okay? Where have you been?"

Jack just walked past Troy, totally ignoring him. Troy followed his dad into the living room and watched his dad, clearly drunk, sit down and turn the tv on. Troy wasn't really sure what to do, but walked up next to his dad. "Dad," he said, "are you okay?" Jack just grunted in response and looked at Troy with bloodshot eyes. He turned back to the tv and watched, back to completely ignoring Troy.

Troy was both a little worried and a little annoyed that his dad was being such a dick and that he seemed so intoxicated. He couldn't really think of anything else to say, so he asked the question that had been tugging at his mind ever since Lucy left.

"Dad, where's mom?"

At the mention of Lucy, Jack's attention was one hundred percent directed at Troy. He stood up and took a menacing step toward his son. "Don't talk about that bitch!" Troy was extremely surprised that his dad had just talked about his wife like that. He took a step away from his father, unsure of how he was going to act. "But I want to know! She is my mom!" Troy was getting angry that Jack didn't even care about her well being. Sure, she was doing drugs, but she was doing them to keep the family together and happy. And they did have such a great seventeen years together before last night.

Jack was now angry at the way Troy was speaking to him and took another step toward his son. Troy instinctively drew back, looking at that broken look in his dad's eyes once more. Troy was extremely confused. He knew his dad was hurting. So was he. But he couldn't understand why Jack was being so hostile. Jack drew back a hand and slapped his son hard across the face, an echoing crack being heard through the house. Troy was only half expecting to be hit, and his head swung to the side, his cheek now stinging. He looked back at his dad who was still glaring at him. Jack drew back another hand to strike his son,but Troy punched him in the face before he could land another blow. Troy didn't want to do it, but he had to or else his dad would... he would...

Jack stumbled back a few steps, but found his way to Troy again, this time really angry because he had just been hit. "Don't hit me! This is your fault!" He screamed at his son who was trying to find away around his father. He raised his hand, now a fist, and punched Troy in the jaw, causing him to fall back into the wall. Troy was absolutely shocked that his own father would do this to him, and just stared with scared eyes at his dad.

"Dad, what the fuck are you doing!"

Jack just continued to step closer to Troy, anger radiating from every pore of his being. Jack grabbed Troy's shoulders and heaved, pushing him to the floor. Troy rolled over onto his back and started kicking his father's legs. Jack grabbed one of Troy's ankles and pulled, flipping Troy onto his stomach and preventing him from kicking. Troy tried to use his upper body to pull himself away from his father, but he couldn't get away. Jack then ripped the back of his son's shirt, exposing the skin. He took off his belt and raised his arm to swing. Troy saw this and his eyes widened in terror.

"Dad! Please don't!" was all that he could yell before the metal from the buckle met his skin and he screamed. Every hit with the belt earned an agonizing scream from Troy. The pain was unbearable, and as hard as he tried, Troy could neither get away from his father nor protect his back from the belt. Jack finally stepped back after Troy was almost motionless and looked down at his son angrily.

"It's your fault that bitch started coke in the first place. She did it because of you."

Those were the only words he said before going upstairs into his room, leaving Troy lying in the living room corner, barely conscious.

* * *

After what seemed like days, but what had actually been only a few hours, Troy attempted to move. That proved to be a lot harder than he hoped. He gritted his teeth and managed to crawl over to the steps. Once at the steps, Troy pushed himself up, grunting in pain as he went. At long last, he made it to his room and sat outside his door. He rested his head against the door and closed his eyes, breathing heavily. After a minute or two, he stood up, almost doubling over in pain, and walked into his room. He took off the remnants of his shirt, stinging in the process. Then, he took off his jeans and boxers and went into his bathroom. Against his better will, he stole a glance in the mirror and to his surprise, he only really saw a bruise forming under his eye. He was actually a little relieved that he didn't look that bad. He turned around and his relief was quickly replaced by fear again when he saw the huge weeping wounds on his back from the belt, bruising covering every other part of his back that wasn't bloody.

He turned on the water in the shower, not caring if it was cold or hot, and stepped under the stream. He let out a yelp as the water made contact with his back. Suddenly, he heard a very loud "SHUT UP!" from the other bedroom. Cringing in fear, he caught his breath in his throat, making an effort to stay quiet. After trying his best to clean all the wounds on his back, he finally turned the shower off and climbed into his bed, not bothering to dry himself off or put on any clothes.

Now that Troy had a chance to lay down and not move, he began to think about what his father said to him. _She did it because of you. _Troy shook his head and tried not dwell on that statement. It wasn't his fault. She chose her own actions, right? The same doubt clouded his mind again. Now his father hated him and his mother was some addict who knows where. Was he really as worthless as he felt? No. He had friends, right? Or were they just going to leave him someday, too? Troy sighed and absentmindedly rolled over, eliciting a small groan to escape his lips.

Rain began to fall gently on his window and Troy smiled in spite of everything that had happened. The rain always managed to calm him down. Even though he felt a little calmer, those horrible things his father said still plagued his mind.

_He's right. It is all my fault._


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews! I'm really glad you're reading my story! And I don't own HSM. Also, sorry for taking so long posting this chapter.

Warning! Sexual content in this chapter, as well as explicit masturbation!

**Chapter 3**

_BUZZ._

_BUZZ._

_BUZZ._

Troy groaned as his alarm continued to ring. He shot his hand out from under the covers to shut it off and immediately recoiled, hissing in pain. Apparently, the night before had not been a nightmare and... and it was all his fault. He sighed and sat up in bed, very slowly in failed attempts to keep his pain to a minimum. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. He stood up and looked around his room for a some clothes and his books. He took a few steps to his dresser when his dad suddenly walked into the room without knocking. After seeing that his son was naked, he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Stop jerking off and get ready for school."

Troy rolled his eyes at his father, annoyed that he would actually make a comment like that, and finished walking over to his dresser. Suddenly, Jack was behind him and grabbed his wrist, turning Troy so his son would be facing him. He grabbed a handful of Troy's hair and pulled, forcing Troy's blue eyes to look into his own. Troy hissed and reluctantly looked at his father.

"Don't disrespect me, boy."

And as soon as he had come, Jack was once again out of the room. Troy leaned against his dresser and let out the breath he was holding; he was just relieved that his father didn't decide to do anything to him right before he needed to be at school. After cooling his jets a little, he turned around and opened his drawers, fishing out a pair of boxers and some clothes to wear for school. He smiled inwardly when he realized that any shirt could cover his back and the cuts and bruises littering it. At the thought of his back, Troy's concern and curiosity brought him to the bathroom so examine his wounds from the night before. He looked in the mirror, craning his neck to see better, and saw angry, swollen cuts on his back, covered everywhere else by deep, purple bruises. His back screamed in protest at the constant movement, but Troy was glad he was getting used to it now so that he would be able to deal with it during classes.

After gingerly pulling his shirt over his head and pulling on a pair of jeans, Troy headed downstairs and once again ate alone, only this time his father was just avoiding him. Troy absentmindedly wondered what his dad was going to do about working at East High, but the thought really wasn't bothering him anyway. Troy finished his breakfast and put his bowl in the sink, grabbing his bag and heading out the door. Today, Troy decided to walk since he really didn't live that far away and everything that has been going on was really putting Troy in no state to drive anything.

* * *

After the twenty minute walk, Troy finally arrived at school just in time for homeroom. He ran to his locker, through his stuff inside and grabbed what he needed before running full speed to Darbus' room, ignoring the screaming that his back surely would have been doing should it have been able to talk. He walked in just as the bell rang for the beginning of homeroom. Ms. Darbus looked at Troy with a disapproving look, but didn't say anything because technically, Troy wasn't late.

Troy didn't really notice that Ms. Darbus even looked at him when he walked in and just went straight to his seat. He sat next to Chad, nodding his head in greeting, but pretty much remaining to himself. This, of course, did not go unnoticed by Chad, nor by Gabriella who was expecting a smile or a wave from her boyfriend. Chad just merely let it go; everyone had the right to have a bad day. Maybe Troy was just having his? Gabriella, on the other hand, knew that even if Troy was having a bad day, he would at least look at her before he sat down. She felt a small pang of worry tug at her subconscious, and made a mental note to ask Troy if everything was okay later on that day.

Troy sighed and stared down at his desk, waiting for the bell to ring, waiting for anything that would distract him enough so he would stop thinking about his horrible father. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut and counted to ten, clearing his mind. He looked up just as Ms. Darbus was finishing her announcements for the day.

"Oh, and Mr. Bolton, our basketball coach, has resigned. You will have a new one today at practice. His name is Mr. Opese, and he is very excited to meet the team."

Troy stared stupidly at his homeroom teacher, his brain slowly calculating what was just said. His father had quit? He looked over at Chad, who was looking back with confusion.

"Why isn't your dad coaching anymore, Troy?" He asked, along with other glances and verbal questions from the other team members. Troy just shook his head and tried to play it off that he had known all along.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. He found a better job that pays better. And we could always use the money. No big deal. I'm sure the new coach will be just as good as dad was."

Troy looked at his teammates with a look that said, _It's nothing new. Things like this happen every day._

It's true. Things like that did happen every day. But usually someone knows about it. Why hadn't Troy said anything? In fact, why does Troy look so troubled by this?

These were questions that ran through Chad's head as he looked at his best friend, who had gone back to staring at his copybook. There must have been something extremely interesting on the cover. Despite everything that Chad was noticing, he didn't say anything. How could he? If he took a step back and looked at the situation, it would be very normal for something like this to happen. But Chad just had the feeling that something was up with Troy, he just couldn't put his finger on it. He mentally shrugged and let the thought leave him. After all, if there was something bothering Troy he would have said something. Troy knew he could trust Chad, and Chad knew that Troy knew it.

All his weird thoughts and worries gone from his mind, Chad got up with everyone else when the bell rang and caught Troy before he left for math.

"Hey, Troy! You wanna hang out after school today?" Chad hoped Troy would say yes because they hadn't hung out in a while, but Troy shook his head.

"No, sorry man, I have to help my dad with his new job stuff."

Troy seemed to be getting better and better at coming up with lies, and he was glad to see that his friends were buying them. Chad looked a little dejected but nodded nonetheless because he understood having to help your parents.

"Well alright, maybe this weekend? At that, Chad clapped Troy on the shoulder and walked down the hallway, heading for his next class. Troy just responded with a small "Yeah" and tensed his entire body as Chad walked away. The pain from his dad's belt was still excruciating and the playful hit his friend gave him didn't help at all. He groaned as he eased his body into relaxation again and began to walk down the hall toward math when a pair of arms wrapped themselves firmly around his middle, earning an audible yelp from Troy this time.

Gabriella looked up at Troy with worry on her face, quickly letting Troy go. "Troy? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Troy just nodded, biting the inside of his cheek before responding, trying to sound as pain-free as possible. "Yeah, Gabs, you just really scared me, that's all." He said, smiling and forcing a laugh that sounded pretty genuine. Gabriella smiled back sweetly and laughed with him. "Oh, sorry, I didn't think I could scare you. But I guess I can!" She smirked triumphantly at Troy and he felt his stomach do a flip. He couldn't help himself and quickly kissed her; it was his turn to surprise her. She smiled mischievously at him and said, "Do you wanna hang out tonight?" At once, Troy nodded his head, blood quickly rushing toward his naval. "Yes! I mean, That'd be great! But can we go to your house? Mine is kinda messy with my dad having his new job stuff everywhere."

Gabriella beamed excitedly at Troy and nodded. "Sure! Be there by seven."

Troy watched as His girlfriend walked down the hallway, not helping his slightly hard erection. "Bye." Was all he said as he almost skipped down the hall toward his math class, his earlier worries, concerns, and angers completely forgotten.

* * *

Troy walked into math class on time for once! He strode back to his chair, feeling lighter than air because of his awesome girlfriend. They would also be able to finish what they had started the other day... Troy's mind began to wander but he willed himself to stop because he didn't feel like getting a boner in class and having to go up to the board to solve a problem. Mr. Mac liked to do that because he knew how much troy sucked at math. The last thing he needed was that. He started to pay attention to the class and actually got a problem right.

_Shit, this day is going great!_ Troy thought as he left math class and headed for the gym for practice. As he entered the gym he caught site of the new coach. He seemed really athletic, but he also looked like a pretty nice guy. Troy nodded to him and muttered "Hey" as he walked into the locker rooms to change. He sat down, trying to remember the dude's name when Chad came up and sat next to him.

"So you wanna hang on Friday? There's no school or work the next day, so you can't possibly be busy!" He asked Troy. Troy looked at Chad, a little confused at his comment, but then remembered that he had lied to Chad about not being able to go out tonight. He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, man, I can definitely hang out on Friday."

"Good! Good!" was all that Chad had the chance to say when the whistle rang for everyone to get out of the locker room and begin practice. Troy quickly ripped his pants off and threw on his shorts, then changed his shirt, being extra careful to keep his back toward a corner so no one would see his cuts and bruises. He then followed the rest of the team out into the gym.

The first thing the coach did was introduce himself.

"Hi. My name is Tom Opese, and I don't care if you call me Tom to my face, but you have to call me coach in front of other teachers and staff. I'm real excited to work with you guys because I hear you have great strength as a team and have even more potential than that. Good. Now, even though I know I was told correctly, I want you guys to scrimmage today so I can figure out who's who and what the team's strengths and weaknesses are. Then, we can start to fix things that need to be fixed and do a little tweaking. I'm sure we'll win the championship game, since you guys have already been practicing for it with Coach Bolton for a while now. Ok, that's it. Go to it."

Coach Tom went over to the bleachers as the team split themselves into teams and began to scrimmage against each other. Of course, it was a very rudimentary game because no one was really out to beat anyone and they were broken up into halves. But still, Tom could see who was good and who needed some help. Fortunately, it only seemed like one or two players needed any critique at all.

Troy and Chad immediately moved to the same side, so that they would both be on the same 'team'. Everyone was pretty happy because they didn't have to do much except play a game of basketball. No really hard stuff. It was also a great time for conversation and Chad and Troy started talking about everything and anything they could think of. However, the only thing that was on Troy's mind was his date with Gabriella that night, but he knew he couldn't tell Chad because he had already said he couldn't hang out. So he just kept the conversation to simple topics.

After the scrimmage Mr. Opese told everyone that he thought they were all pretty good and let them go, earning grateful sighs from everyone. Troy hurried out to the parking lot, anxious to get home so he could go see Gabriella, but then he remembered that he chose to walk to school that morning. So he began the twenty minute walk back home, not really minding it because it was nice outside. As he drew closer to his house, he thought he saw something under a bush. Curious, he went over and peered into the maze of leaves, finding a small but otherwise healthy looking kitten. Troy smiled to himself at the site of the cat and reached his arms out to pet it. The cat surprisingly let Troy pet him the first time, and soon began purring. Troy thought about whether he should take the cat home for a moment before deciding a 'yes'. After all, he didn't care what his father had to say anymore.

At that thought, Troy felt a pang of guilt that he so readily started hating his father. But Jack was beating him, right? That was definitely grounds for hating him. Troy picked the cat up, who seemed perfectly fine with the whole prospect of being picked up. Carefully, Troy walked up to his door, worry immediately flooding through him. Why had his dad quit coaching? Would he be mad? These questions and all the feelings that Troy had successfully hidden during the day had come back. Troy took a deep breath and opened the door to his home.

Troy walked inside and put the cat down, who seemed to be at home already. He looked around for his dad, but there was no sign of him. He had been home, however, because Troy saw dirty dishes in the sink. He put his bag down on the couch and put them into the dishwasher. He then sat down at the kitchen table and thought of what he should do next. All this worrying about his dad made him forget that he had plans with Gabriella. As the thought of Gabriella returned to him, he got up and headed up to his room, stripping his articles of clothing as he went. He through his dirty clothes onto his floor and grabbed a towel, heading for the shower.

Troy winced slightly as the water his his back, but it was definitely better than the morning. After cleaning himself thoroughly from the sweat of practice, Troy stepped out of his shower and dressed himself, trying to pick out something nice for Gabriella.

He walked back downstairs to see his dad sitting on the couch. Troy chose to ignore him and went to get something to drink from the fridge. Suddenly, he heard his dad get up and quickly turned around; he didn't ever want his back to be to his father anymore. Jack gave his son a disgusted look, asking, "Since when do we have a cat?" Troy had completely forgotten about the cat, and looked around to see him sleeping in a little ball in the corner. Troy was actually really relieved to see that his father hadn't killed it. He looked back up to Jack and shrugged, "I found him today and thought he could use a good home."

Jack rolled his eyes and stared angrily at Troy. "You never asked!"

Troy was getting a little wary of his father at this point, but said, "Mom would have been okay with it."

Before troy had the chance to completely finish his sentence, his dad punched him in the gut. Troy doubled over in pain, trying to catch his breath that wouldn't come, no matter how hard he tried to draw in a breath. It felt like he was suffocating. He looked up at his dad who just pulled Troy's hair, causing him to wince. Jack pulled harder, forcing his son to stand up a little straighter and look at him.

"Don't talk to me about her."

Troy chose not to respond but instead shrugged away from his father's grip and walked out the door, hoping that he wouldn't get into trouble for blatantly walking out. He also hoped the kitten would be okay. He began walking around aimlessly, trying to calm his nerved and catch his breath. He eventually sat down on the curb a few blocks down and just breathed. After a few minutes, he began to feel better and stood up again, heading toward Gabriella's since it was getting later now.

Troy arrived at Gabriella's house after a short walk, being that the two lived rather close to each other. He knocked on the door and awaited an answer. Troy felt a little pang of excitement as Gabriella opened the door, knowing that no one was home because she only opened the door for him if she was the only one home. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately before letting go and smiling at her. "Hey."

Gabriella smiled back, excited to see Troy, and stepped aside, allowing him room to pass.

They both walked into the living room and sat down on the couch leaned her head on Troy's chest and said, "It's so nice to see you again. How's the new coach?" Troy looked down at the top of his girlfriend's head, just glad to be in the same room as her. He said, "He's actually really cool. And I think he'll get us to win the Championships. How are things in smart-person world?" He chuckled at his question, warranting a small playful smack from Gabriella.

Gabriella immediately looked stressed and began to talk about how the Scholastic Decathlon team was having trouble with some equations and how she was worried that they might not do well and how no one seemed to want to do any work for it anymore.

"...and Taylor is just as mad as-" troy cut her off mid-sentence with a kiss, hoping that it would make her feel better. She immediately stopped talking and returned his kiss with force. The two made out for a few minutes, each exploring the other's mouth with enthusiasm. Soon the kiss deepened and Troy was trailing his hand along the hem of Gabriella's blouse, slowly pushing his hands up underneath it. Gabriella broke the kiss and started nibbling on Troy's neck, leaving a mark. Troy continued to remove his girlfriend's shirt and soon at was somewhere on the floor. Then he moved to undo her bra, which she willingly gave up. Gabriella gave Troy another kiss on the mouth as she began to unzip his zipper, pulling his pants and boxers off and tossing them somewhere else on the floor. The two continued to kiss, while Troy played with the hardening nipples on Gabriella's breasts and Gabriella started stroking Troy's dick, causing Troy's breathing to hitch.

Gabriella broke the kiss again and giggled at Troy's half-lidded eyes. She then shuffled her way down the couch a little to give herself space to begin licking Troy's member. Troy immediately moaned and put his head back, shocked that Gabriella was giving him a blow job. It wasn't like she was against it, but they had never gotten far enough for a blow job. But he wasn't complaining. hell, he loved it. He bucked his hips slightly as Gabriella stopped blowing him and came back up to his face, attacking his neck again with her mouth. He groaned throatily again and rubbed the small of Gabriella's back.

"Fuck, Gabs."

Gabriella giggled again and unzipped her own pants. Troy took this opportunity to push his hand into her underwear and rub her clit, smiling as she moaned loudly and bucked her hips into his groin, making Troy just that much more horny. Gabriella pulled her back back and looked at the hickeys she gave to her boyfriend. She nudged the newest one with her nose before starting on a new spot, this time tracing her hands up Troy's stomach, running her fingers over his abs. She began to ease his shirt up his stomach and moved her hands toward his back.

Troy's eyes suddenly widened in horror as he remembered the cuts and bruises on his back and suddenly stood up, stepping away from Gabriella. He blushed slightly as he realized he was standing in front of his girlfriend with a huge boner. He quickly picked up and boxers and slipped them on, looking apologetically at Gabriella. "Gabs, I'm really sorry. REALLY sorry. I... I just don't know if I'm... ready." She just looked at him with a hurt look in her eyes, slowly snaking her forearm over her chest. She only nodded, but didn't say anything.

_Not ready? Yeah right! I want this more than anything! I've been ready for months! Now this has to happen!_

Troy was really angry that he couldn't have sex with his girlfriend because he couldn't tell her about his father. He grunted as he yanked on his jeans and looked back at Gabriella, who looked upset.

"Gabs... I... I'm sorry."

And Troy left the house. Gabriella stood up and put her bra back on, then sat down on the couch again. Then, she started crying. What had she done wrong? She thought he liked what she was doing? It was all her fault.

* * *

Troy walked back to his house, opened the door in a huff, and went straight up to his room, completely ignoring his closed and locked his door, dropped his pants, sat on his bed and finished what should have happened a few minutes ago. After he calmed down a little, he laid back on his bed, breathing heavily. he was still extremely annoyed at his father for beating him. It was all his fault! But it was his own fault, Troy's, that his dad beat him. So, it was Troy's fault that he couldn't get any. Troy just growled at the air and wished he were dead. He then noticed that he had made quite a huge mess on his stomach. He wished that Gabriella was the one who had produced that orgasm, and vowed that they would have sex some day. Just not when he had huge holes on his back. He grabbed some tissues and cleaned himself up. He pulled up his pants and laid back down on his bed, still quite angry at himself for everything.

Suddenly, his dad was knocking on the door. Troy didn't want to deal with him right now, so he ignored the knocking. He closed his eyes as his dad began yelling through the door, then hitting it, then kicking it down, then hitting his face in. Troy couldn't even sit up because his dad was just pounding on him. Suddenly, his dad stopped and Troy just turned his head away, crying freely because his face hurt so much. He didn't want to look at his father, nor did he want to ever see his father again. Once again, Jack pulled his hair and forced him to look him in the eye.

"Nice hickeys, whore. And don't walk out or ignore me again."

Whore? What the fuck was that? He had a girlfriend. That didn't mean he was a whore. Stupid father, stupid life, stupid hickeys, stupid everything. At this point in time Troy actually considered killing himself, but the thought immediately was attacked by his reasoning. He couldn't kill himself, that would be dumb.

After what seemed like forever, he calmed down a little and was able to organize his thoughts. He hoped that Gabriella didn't hate him. he wanted more than anything to lose his virginity. It just wasn't the right time. His penis sure wanted it to be the time. Hell, every fiber of his being wanted it to be the time, but he just couldn't let Gabriella see his body. He just couldn't. He couldn't risk her hating him or being to afraid to be with him anymore. He couldn't lose her.

After about a half hour of just lying in his bed, Troy got up and went to look at his face in the mirror. It was a little black and blue, but nothing like he thought it would be. He would definitely be able to play that off at school the next day. He sighed, trying to think of how all of this could be possible. How could it be possible that his father would do this to his only son? Troy finally resigned himself to the fact that his father was a changed man and went back to his bed. Between the jerk-off session and his musings, Troy was able to tire himself out. He laid down in bed and fell asleep almost immediately.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews everyone! Don't own HSM.

**Chapter 4**

Troy woke up a few minutes before his alarm went off. He stared at the clock and decided to just get up early. He turned the alarm off before getting up and taking a quick shower. He chose something to wear and quickly through it on before heading downstairs to get something to eat. He sat at the kitchen table as his dad sat in the living room, pretending Troy didn't exist. He looked down and saw that his cat was rubbing up against his leg. The cat really was a handsome cat. His coat was sable colored, creating stripes of darker and lighter color. He had longer hair that was extremely soft. Troy reached down and pet the cat, who started purring. He made a mental note to think of a name for him, but not now. Now, he wanted to talk to his father.

Troy finished his breakfast and went into the living room.

"Dad? I just want to know... why did you quit working at East High?"

"Well, I didn't want to work at the school that I sent my son to, especially when I beat him."

Troy's mouth just stood slightly agape as those words pierced his heart. His dad seemed to say that he intentionally beat him without the slightest bit of feeling; they were just so nonchalant, so uncaring. Troy closed his mouth and found himself unable to swallow. He just nodded his head a few times and headed toward the door. He the turned around and went back into the living room.

"Dad, I just wanted to let... to let you know that I'm leaving for... school."

He saw that his dad nodded and turned around and walked out. True, it was still very early to be going to school, but he couldn't see himself staying in that house. If he thought about it, Troy wasn't really all that upset, just shocked that his father was so blatant about it. He had some shred of hope before that maybe his father did still have some kind of feeling for him. That it was just a phase.

Troy walked down the sidewalk and told himself that he needed to buy his cat some food.

He finally made to his destination: Gabriella's house. Of course it was a little early to be at her house too, but he wasn't ready to go to school yet. He knocked on the door and noticed that a light was already on downstairs. This made Troy feel a little better because that meant that someone was up and he wouldn't be waking someone up from a deep sleep, at least. He took a step back and waited a few moments until Mrs. Montez, looking very much like her daughter, opened the door. Troy tried to give her a smile, but couldn't find it in him to do so. Instead he looked down at his feet.

"Hi, Mrs. Montex. Sorry it's so early... I'm really really sorry, but I was wondering if Gabby was up? If she is, could I talk to her?"

Mrs. Montez was slightly surprised that Troy was at their house so early, but knew that Troy had a tendency to do things like this: coming to their door early in the morning or late at night.

"Good morning, Troy. Of course, you can speak to Gabriella. She should be down in a few minutes. You can wait for her in the living room."

Troy smiled and continued to look at his feet as he stepped inside the house.

"Thanks." He said as he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. He sighed, trying to organize his thoughts and figure out what exactly he wanted to tell Gabriella. He knew he had to tell her something. He couldn't let what happened the night before ruin their relationship and he had woken up that morning determined to fix it. Then, after what seemed like no time at all, Gabriella was standing in the doorway. Troy looked up and looked at his girlfriend and, at once, Gabriella was sitting next to him, her hand on his cheek.

"Troy! What happened?"

Gabriella seemed to be whispering, probably so as not to draw her mother. Troy, however, looked blankly at her before remembering that he had a bruise on his face from his father. He slowly raised his hand up to his face, covering her hand as well as the bruise.

"Gabs... I... I'm sorry..."

Troy took a deep breath and tried to talk to her. He was sure she would understand. He hoped she would understand. Then, all at once, he buried his head into her shoulder and started crying, quickly wetting the top of her shirt. Gabriella was so taken aback by the fact that Troy was crying that she didn't know what to do except pat him lightly on the back. She completely forgot about the night before and any feelings of anger or regret she had were expunged.

"Troy... what's going on? You're... you're crying. Any you have an awful bruise on your face!"

Troy looked up at Gabriella and wiped his eyes.

"My mom is a coke addict and my dad kicked her out. Now he... he hates me because he says it's my fault."

He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself to no avail, before continuing."And I... uh... I was leaving my house and I... fell down the steps because I was in a hurry."

Gabriella was once again lost for words once Troy told her what happened. All she could do was pull him into a tight hug.

"Troy... I'm sorry."

She didn't really know what else to say so she just held him as he calmed down. Then, Troy pulled away and sat up, running his hands through his hair, making it look even more messier than usual. He then smirked at her, saying, "And now here I am crying like a baby on your shoulder. I'm sorry... I shouldn't cry. This is just too much, though." He sighed shakily and rubbed his knees. Gabriella put her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him, hoping that she would be able to make him feel better.

"Hey, I'm always here if you need to talk. That's why I'm your girlfriend." She kissed his cheek softly, then nuzzled his neck and laughed. "Nice hickeys."

Troy smiled, even though he knew all along that Gabriella would understand. At the mention of his hickeys, he touched them with his finger tips, a slight blush encroaching on his cheeks. "Yeah... now I'll get more stares, what with the bruise and the hickeys." he sighed, then laughed, relieved that those were the extent of his problems for the moment. "Oh well." He wiped his eyes once more before standing up and putting his hand out to Gabriella.

"C'mon Gabs. We better get to school."

"Yeah... I guess you're right."

Gabriella grabbed Troy's hands and they left for school.

* * *

Throughout the walk to school, Troy debated on whether he should tell Gabriella about his father beating him. He knew that she would understand, but he didn't know if he was ready to say anything to her. He also was worried that she might say something to an adult or the police and his father would get arrested, leaving Troy without a place to stay. For the time being, Troy thought it best not to tell Gabriella. Maybe when his birthday in May got closer. The only problem was that it was only November. Nonetheless, Troy felt like a whale had been lifted from his chest because he told Gabriella at least something.

The two walked into the school and headed for their lockers, where Chad and Taylor were waiting. They all grabbed their books and headed to homeroom for another riveting story told by Ms. Darbus. Troy sat down with Chad and the rest of the basketball team that was in his homeroom while Gabriella went to sit with the other smart kids in the back. Troy had been mentally preparing himself for school the entire walk. He was ready when everyone in the room looked at him when they saw his bruise. There were even a few audible gasps. Then frantic whispering replaced the dumb stares and gasps as people noticed the bruises on his neck. It seemed they were more concerned about those than the one on his face.

Troy had forgotten about the hickeys and immediately started blushing deep red when he remembered. He just put his head on his desk, successfully hiding the marks. Chad, on the other hand, laughed at Troy and whispered to him, "What? Did you get some last night?" troy just grunted, not wanting to talk about any happenings of the night before. He also didn't have the guts to admit to anyone that he was a virgin. Of course, being the most lusted after boy in East High, everyone naturally thought Troy was a sex god. But they were wrong, and Troy planned on people continuing to just assume he had gotten it in at some point.

Darbus quieted everyone down and started on her daily announcements, none of which anyone listened to anymore because they were posted on the walls by the lockers. Troy just closed his eyes as he listened to Chad whisper to the rest of the team about how awesome he thought Mr. Opese was. Troy had to agree. Sure, he wasn't a big fan of his dad right now, but even an unbiased person would agree that Mr. Opese was better for the team than Jack Bolton. Period.

_RING._

Troy's head shot up from his desk as the bell for first period rang and everyone started walking out the door. He got up and followed everyone, finally finding Gabriella and grabbing he wrist before she could get very far. She turned around and smiled at him. "What's up, Wildcat?"

Troy smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her forehead. "I just wanted to thank you for everything this morning. You have no idea how much better I feel, and I promise, we'll finish what we started last night."

Gabriella smiled at him and kissed his nose. "I know. I'm ready whenever you are." Then she winked and walked away.

Troy stayed where he was and watched as his girlfriend walked down the hall. Then the bell rang for the start of Troy's math class. Had it really been four minutes already? troy couldn't believe it. Now, he was going to be late... again. He raced to his locker and grabbed his book before running to Mr. Mac's classroom. He ran into the room, muttering his apologies for being late and looked up to meet the eyes of an older woman whom he had never seen before. She looked quite perplexed as to why he was in her classroom. Troy turned to face the class and saw an entire class of sophomores staring back, almost every one of them with their mouths hanging open. Then, much to Troy's dissatisfaction, a girl pointed and said, "It's Troy Bolton!" Suddenly, the classroom erupted with laughter and squeals and talking. Troy immediately took a step back, blushing terribly, when a girl pointed to his neck and said, "Gabriella Montez is so lucky! I would give anything to that boy!" Suddenly, what seemed like millions of comments were being said.

"I'll make that bruise on your cheek feel better!"

"Please date me!"

"I love you!"

"We're getting married someday!"

Troy stared wide-eyed in fear at the group of girls in front of him before running out of the room. Sophomore girls were really obnoxious.

Shaking his head and trying to stop blushing, Troy walked one classroom over into his math class, saying, "I know, I'm sorry. I went into the wrong room and almost got attacked by a bunch of sophomores." The, Troy sat down, not once looking at Mr. Mac. Math class was the same as usual. Troy trying his hardest and still failing to understand anything.

* * *

After school, Troy and Gabriella walked into the auditorium for play practice. They sat down in the front row and talked while they waited for everyone else to show up. As Sharpay and Ryan walked in, Gabriella asked Troy how his day was. A light amount of color appeared on his face as he recounted the tale of the crazy sophomores. This story, however, made Gabriella almost wet herself with mirth. Troy looked at Gabriella and couldn't help but smiling at her infectious laughter.

"Hey. It's was traumatizing! Those girls are scary."

At this, Gabriella laughed even harder, causing Troy to join in.

"Well, Troy, you're not afraid of anything. Except Sophomore girls? That's hilarious."

Troy just responded by shaking his head and wrapping his arms around Gabriella.

"You're funny, Gabs."

Sharpay and Ryan immediately walked up to the stage and started warming up for practice. Sharpay said, "You have to admit, Troy. It's pretty damn sad that you're so scared of little girls."

Ryan smiled at this, but did not say anything. Troy, however, stood up and pointed a finger at Sharpay just as Chad and Taylor walked in. "Hey! You don;t know what they can do! They say anything and I'll bet they'll rip my clothes off if I stand too close!"

At this, Sharpay had to sit on the stage so she wouldn't fall over from laughter, and Gabriella had exploded into a fit of giggles again. Chad and Taylor laughed a bit and looked at Troy with amused expressions on their faces.

"Where did that come from, Mr. Bolton?" Taylor asked, showing Troy a toothy smile.

Once again, Troy had to tell the story of the phantom Sophomores and, once again, everyone broke out in a fit of laughter. Chad clapped a hand on Troy's shoulder, saying, "You are their idol, man!"

Troy laughed while he shrugged Chad's hand away. "I don't want to be some fucking jerk off toy! I just wanna be me." At this thought, everyone in the auditorium broke out into yet another fit of laughter, even Ryan who was usually pretty reserved.

Just then, Ms. Darbus walked into the room with a usual flourish. "Alright, alright, settle down." She said as she stepped up to the stage. She then went on to direct the few students into certain positions and had them start running lines while she thought about how she wanted to block the scene. Luckily for Troy, they were still allowed to use their script during practice, so it wouldn't show that he hadn't even looked at it once. The young actors listened attentively and wrote down their blocking next to their lines. Now their job was to study everything. They had to know lines and blocking, not to mention their songs and dances, too. And they now had until Christmas Break to do it. It always seemed like enough time, but then everything hits you all at once and you're cramming to get those last few lines down. Practice ended pretty well, since everyone _knew _their lines and now just had to _perfect _them. Troy and Gabriella once again left together. It seemed that everything that has been going on in Troy's life actually made the two grow closer.

* * *

Troy and Gabriella walked home together, talking about everything from Taylor to Sharpay to how much math sucked. Gabriella offered to help Troy with his math, but he refused, determined to learn it on his own. He dropped her off at her house after kissing her goodbye and walked the three blocks back to his house alone. As he drew closer to the house, he felt a knot in his stomach form. He still was nervous to enter, but did so anyway because he really did not have any other option. He opened the door and walked into the living room, where he saw his dad sitting on the couch with his arm around some woman.

Troy couldn't help but be surprised. I mean, sure, Jack was single now... _technically_. Troy never really knew what happened about the divorce and he didn't really want to know. Anyway, Jack did have the right to date, but Troy still thought it was a little soon to be with someone else already. Jack looked up and smiled at Troy affectionately, which was another shocker. He stood up, along with the strange woman, and said to Troy, "Troy, I'd like you to meet Amanda. She's my new girlfriend. And she's not an addict to anything."

Amanda smiled at Troy and put out her hand, saying, "It's very nice to meet you." Then she turned her eyes back to Jack and said, "You have a very handsome son."

Troy forced a smiled and shook Amanda's hand, muttering an awkward 'thank you' to her comment about his looks. He then looked back at his dad, unsure of what to think, and said, "Dad, I'm going upstairs. I have to study my math. I'll be down for dinner."

At that, Troy escaped up to his room, shaking his head at the weird vibe he got from his dad's new girlfriend. He was also kind of surprised to see that his dad treated him with some respect. He sighed as he sat down on the edge of his bed and opened his math book, trying just like he did every night to understand the elusive material. His mind began to wander at once and he decided to take his phone out and text Gabriella. _So my dad has a new girlfriend._

He looked back at his math and wrote a few problems, biting on the eraser in his concentration. Then, Gabriella responded: _Well that was fast. Are you okay with it? Is she at least nice?_

Troy didn't respond for a moment before typing: _I guess I have no choice about it. She's nice, but I get a weird vibe from her... maybe it's because everything is moving so fast._

Troy once again went back to his math and made a move to pick up his phone to read Gabriella's response, which read: _Sorry to hear that. Let me know if anything else happens._

Just as Troy was about to respond to his girlfriend, he heard a knock on the door and absentmindedly said, "Come in." He had a feeling it was Amanda, since he knew his dad would never knock. Sure enough, she walked through the door and smiled at Troy. Troy smiled back, thinking that he could like this woman and maybe she would get Jack off his back. She took a step forward and politely asked, "Can I sit?"

Troy looked down at the bed next to him and nodded, quickly picking up and moving his books. "Sure."

Amanda sat down and smiled once again at Troy. "So I know this is all going a little fast," she said, "but I really like your father and he really likes me. I just hope you would understand that I'm not here to replace your mother. Even though she may have not done a good thing, she still was your mother and gave you everything you have today."

At this point, Troy really liked this woman. She seemed kind and understanding. He responded, "Yeah, I know. I just feel like he's moving a little fast. It's only been a few weeks... since..." Troy didn't finish his sentence but Amanda knew what he was trying to say. She nodded and placed her hand on Troy's thigh. She winked at him as his expression changed of one of happiness to one of confusion and fright.

Troy put his own hand on the upper part of his thigh, almost touching his groin, blocking her hand from going anywhere. She just looked at him like nothing had happened and said, "You know you really are quite handsome." She began to snake her hand farther up his thigh, running her palm over the top of his hand and onto his groin. At this point Troy had no idea what to do and was momentarily in shock. After a few moments, his brain registered what was happening and he quickly shoved her away from him and stood up, yelling, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Amanda just looked at him with lustful eyes and very intentionally fell down onto the floor. She then started beating her fist onto the dresser, and started screaming.

"Troy! What are you doing? I'm not trying to step in on your life! Don't hit me!"

Troy just looked at this evil woman with a look of pure horror on his face. She just looked smugly at him and winked once more.

All at once, Troy saw his father coming up the stairs with a look of pure hatred on his face. The look that Troy had hoped he would never see again. Jack stepped into the room and wrapped his hand around the back of Troy's head and pulled forward and down, throwing his son to the ground. Troy knew he had no chance of getting his dad to know the truth, so he just laid there as Jack went over to Amanda and helped her up, asking her if she was okay. She nodded her head and did a very successful job in looking shaken. She then walked out of the room, leaving Jack and Troy alone.

Jack turned back to Troy who was just laying there motionless on the floor, afraid to move. He grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled, forcing Troy to stand up.

"Don't you ever lay a hand on her again!" He said, sending a fist into Troy's gut, who didn't make a sound. Even if he wanted to make a sound he wouldn't have been able to because he could barely breath since every ounce of air was just hit out of him.

Jack continued, "If you have the desire to hit someone, pick on me! Not her!" He then punched Troy in the jaw, sending his son to his knees. Troy still didn't make a sound but he did send a hand up to cover his throbbing jaw. He was too out of emotions to express any at the moment. Jack kicked Troy's middle, causing Troy to fall down onto his side, unmoving out of choice. Troy had no desire to fight back. Just to get out.

Jack kicked Troy in the chest, this time causing a sharp gasp to be heard from Troy, but nothing more. Jack then looked around the room, not nearly finished with his son's punishment. He saw a metal towel bar on the bathroom door. he went over and pulled it off the door, causing the end support pieces to hit the floor with a loud clang. He then went back over to Troy who looked up and saw what his father had grabbed. He just closed his eyes as tightly as he could and grabbed onto the leg of his bed with both hands.

* * *

Everything was broken in his life. He lost his mother because he was... born. He lost his father because his mother was an addict. And now he was losing his life. Everything seemed to be falling apart. He couldn't talk to his friends, he couldn't sleep, he couldn't make love to his girlfriend, he couldn't concentrate on anything. Everything was his fault. But it wasn't his fault he was born. He... he never chose to be brought into this world, and he never chose for his mother to do drugs.

Troy opened finally opened his eyes about seven hours later. He only knew this because the only light in the room was coming from the bright neon lights of his alarm clock. 2:32.

The second thing Troy noticed was that he couldn't move.

The third thing Troy noticed was the blood covered pipe lying innocently on the floor next to him.

The fourth thing Troy noticed was that it was his blood. His fault that all of this happened. No... his parents brought him into this world. Not his fault.

After about a half hour of taking in his surroundings, Troy was finally able to crawl into the bathroom and turn the shower on. He crawled into the shower and sat on the cool tiled floor underneath the stream, letting the water wash everything that had anything to do with everything in his life. He sighed as he slowly kicked off his shoes and very painfully massaged his jeans and boxers down off his battered legs. He was amazed at the variation of color in his legs. They were a mixture of tan and purple. There were bruises everywhere.

"Fuck..." escaped Troy's lips as he slowly peeled off his shirt. Finally, the scratchy material was off his body and the water could come into contact with his skin. Eventually, he turned the water off and sat continued to sit.

Absolutely nothing was going through Troy's mind. There was too much pain, too much pink water on the floor around him. He tried to get up and reached his hand up to grab something to pull. After successfully pulling himself into a standing position, Troy immediately let go of what he had grabbed: another towel rack. No, he wasn't phobic of them, just not too happy with them right now. Not that any inanimate object would care.

Troy didn't want to look in the mirror, so he didn't. He just went into his room and pulled on a pair of boxers then climbed into bed and let the softness of the sheets envelope him. He sighed and breathed in the scent of the sheets deeply before hearing the spattering of rain on the windows. The rain always calmed him down. Always. He also heard the faint moans and gasps coming from his father's bedroom.

_Really? At two in the morning?_

That was the last thing Troy thought before unconsciousness overtook him once more in the most restful night of sleep he'd ever had._  
_


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews again everyone. I had a great revelation about what to do with the story, so it's now going in a new direction. I hope you guys like it, though it's going to take a few chapters for me to get everything out in the open. Don't own HSM.

**Chapter 5**

The next morning came all too quickly. Troy's fist flashed almost invisible from under the sheets and slammed the alarm clock into quiet submission before disappearing again into the nest of blankets. Yawning, Troy slowly disentangled himself from his bed and sat up, rubbing his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that everything hurt. However, it was a dull throbbing pain. He was stiff in every joint and just wished he were dead. Well, not really. He really had no desire to kill himself. He pushed himself off of his bed, which took almost every ounce of his strength. He walked slowly over to the closet and got a clean pair of jeans then went over to his dresser and pulled on a long sleeved t-shirt.

He glanced over to his bed and saw that his cat was sitting there looking at him. Where had he been for so long? Was he let out? How did he get back in? Troy just shrugged the questions into the _don't care_ section of his brain and forgot about it.

He then walked over to the bathroom and quickly brushed his teeth. He looked into the mirror and saw a sad face looking back at him. Other than looking broken emotionally, his face looked fine, thankfully. His dad sure knew how to make it so that no one would notice anything at school. At the thought of his father, Troy felt anger surge up within him. he truly hated his dad. And his mom, for that matter. It was there fault for fucking like rabbits and making him. He vowed at that point to never have sex without protection for fear of creating a child that he didn't want.

Troy truly entertained the thought of not going to school today, but he really needed to talk to Gabriella. She would understand everything. He walked back out to his bathroom and walked slowly around his bedroom for a few laps, trying to loosen up his muscles so he wouldn't look like a cripple at school. After he started to feel himself loosen up, he walked downstairs to meet his father and... his father's friend sitting at the table eating breakfast. Troy walked right by them, grabbed a bowl of cereal, scarfed it down, and walked out of the house. He could feel the eyes of Amanda on him the entire time.

_What the fuck is wrong with her? She was just screwing my... Jack senseless this morning. Why the fuck does she want anything to do with me?_

Troy chose to walk to school once again. Since he had a little time, he walked to the supermarket and bought a small bag of cat food. Luckily, he could fit the food into his school bag because he would look a little weird walking into East High with a bag of animal food under his arm. He looked up at the sky and noticed that it was still cloudy, but at least the rain had stopped for now.

A stiff breeze snaked its way through the town and hit Troy in the chest, sending a shiver through his body. It was really getting cold fast now that Thanksgiving was approaching. He really should have worn a jacket, but then again he was in a hurry to leave his house.

Troy walked the twenty minute walk to school in silence, not really thinking much. There was too much to worry about that Troy just forgot about it all, keeping his mind blank for the entire trip. He was actually a little surprised that he was suddenly at school. In retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea to walk because his whole body was screaming as he walked up the stairs into the building. He walked up to his locker and glanced at his watch. It was quarter to eight so everyone would soon be coming through the doors. Troy didn't bother to open his locker. He just sat down on the floor in front of it and held his head in his hands. This was getting to be too much.

Just then, he heard footsteps coming up the steps. he quickly stood up, wincing in pain, and ran his hand through his hair. He turned around and acted like he had just gotten there and was opening his locker. He turned around just as Gabriella walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him, causing him to jerk away from the pain. She looked at him with a confused look on her face.

Troy looked at her with a sad look and said, "Gabs... I love you... but I think we should take a break for a while. I'm starting to have really bad problems at home and there's just a lot that I have to... think about."

At once, Gabriella's face dropped and she looked like she was about to cry. However, she only just nodded her head, not letting a tear fall. Troy immediately regretted what he said and put his hand on her hip. "Gab's please..." he pleaded with her, but she only jabbed the heal of her hand into Troy's chest, causing him to immediately let go and slam his eyes closed in pain. He opened his eyes and just looked at her sad face, his heart breaking inside his chest. She just looked down at her feet and walked away.

Troy turned back to his locker and put his head on the cool metal. Truthfully, Troy didn't want to do that at all. He really really loved Gabriella, but he knew she deserved better than him. He couldn't do anything with her because she would see his body. He sighed and opened his locker, throwing his stuff inside. He grabbed a book, not caring which one, and slammed it shut. Then, he turned down the hall and headed for homeroom.

For the first time in the history of his high school career, Troy was early for homeroom. However, he did not show any notice to that fact. He just walked in and sat in the seat he always sat in. he put his head on the desk and waited for the rest of the class to filter in before the bell.

After a few minuted, Chad and Zeke walked in and sat down on either side of Troy. Chad shook Troy's shoulder, thinking he was asleep, and Troy immediately recoiled and shot up straight, looking at Chad. "What?" Was the single word that escaped his lips.

Chad looked at his friend with a concerned expression, then asked, "Troy, what happened with you and Gabby? She looked like she was about to cry when I passed her in the hall. Is everything okay?"

Troy just shook his head then leaned it against his hand for support. "No. We broke up." Troy went on to tell Chad and Zeke about the issues he was having at home. Sure, they were a little surprised because this was the first time hearing about it, but Troy didn't care. At this point, he barely cared about anything. And maybe the extra support from Chad would help. Chad just shook his head sadly.

"Fuck, man. I'm really sorry to hear all that. I hope things get better. You know, if they don't you can always spend a night at my house."

Troy actually smiled at his best friend appreciatively. Chad didn't know about the beatings, but Troy looked at the invitation as an escape from his father on some night. "Thanks a lot, Chad." Chad clapped Troy on the back and Troy did everything he could not to flinch or move.

Just then, he saw Gabriella and Taylor walk in. For the second time that day, Troy felt his heart break for her. He felt so bad, but in his eyes it was for the best.

Ms. Darbus walked in and Troy immediately zoned out, ignoring her tirade. He didn't really have much to say to anyone today, but he was very glad that Chad seemed to be understanding. At least he did. Troy involuntarily shuddered at the thought of what Taylor would do to him when she finally got her claws into him.

Suddenly the bell rang, surprising Troy at how fast homeroom seemed to fly by. He stood up and followed Chad out the door. He then traveled through the crowded hallway alone, toward his dreaded math class. Actually, math seemed to fly by too because once again, Troy wasn't even trying to concentrate.

It seemed like five minutes had gone by and Troy was on his way to play practice for it was free period. He stopped outside the door and took a deep breath. He pushed the door open to the familiar site of practice, but caught a glance of Gabriella looking at him angrily. He pretended not to notice as he walked in and looked for Ms. Darbus. As soon as he found her walked straight up to her and gave her his script. He said, "Miss Darbus, I'm really sorry about this, but I can't do the show anymore. There's a lot going on at home and I don't feel like I would be doing the part justice. I just wanted to tell you as early as I could because I know you'll have time to find someone who can put more time into the part. I couldn't continue this and watch the show become ruined because of me. I'm sorry."

Ms. Darbus looked at him darkly and then looked down at the script. She sighed once and nodded her head. "Troy, I understand. Although I am disappointed, I understand and hope that you will do the spring musicale after you work out whatever is going on at home. And if you do need to speak to anyone, I will always be here to listen."

Troy found it strangely comforting that Ms. Darbus offered her ear if he should ever need it. He offered her a small smile before turning around and leaving, trying not to make eye contact with everyone who was surely staring at him. He failed, however, when he caught the eyes of his ex-girlfriend once more. They seemed to have a bit of confusion in them, behind the anger that seemed to be a little duller.

Gabriella had the thought that maybe troy wasn't being a jerk after all. Maybe something really was wrong. Maybe he really did love her.

* * *

Troy continued to walk down the hallway, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. True, he loved to do the shows, but he couldn't see himself doing any extra activities with the way his family life was. Maybe if he didn't tire himself out with practices, he would be able to better fight of his dad and keep himself sane for a bit longer. Maybe he would be able to last until he was eighteen. At that thought, Troy promised himself that he would keep himself kicking until he was eighteen. Then... well he didn't know what he was going to do then.

Troy walked down the stairs and into the gym, quickly finding Mr. Opese's office. He knocked and then stepped into the small room without waiting for an answer from the coach. Mr Opese looked up from his notes of the team and smiled widely at Troy. "Hey, Troy. What's up? You ready to start practicing hard?"

Troy felt a pang of guilt at what he was about to do, but sat down opposite the coach anyway. He said, "Actually, coach, I want to talk to you about that." At this, Mr. Opese's smile dropped a little and he closed his binder and rested his forearms atop it. Troy continued, "Coach, I want to quit the team. I have a lot of stuff on my plate right now and I don't want to drag the team down. I know they can win and I don't want to be the factor that causes them not to." Mr. Opese looked like he had just gotten shot, but just like Ms. Darbus, nodded his head in understanding. Troy just nodded his head before he stood up and headed back out the door.

Troy had a little more trouble giving up basketball, but he knew it would be better for everyone if he did. Yeah, his friends would be pissed at him, but this was something he had to do. Another promise formed itself in Troy's brain. He promised himself that he would not ostracize himself from his friends, no matter what. If that meant that he had to tell them everything, then so be it. Just... not now. Maybe tomorrow.

* * *

Finally being done with everything, Troy walked through the halls toward his locker, feeling a little better now that he no longer had any obligations to school. A thought suddenly hit him and he immediately turned around and ran back toward the gym. He opened the doors and peered inside but did not see anyone, so he tore away from the door and ran back upstairs to the lockers. His muscles were almost audibly groaning in protest, but he didn't care. he ignored the pain and made it up to the lockers, finding who he was looking for. Chad was just closing his locker and leaving for the day. Troy broke into a run again and yelled, "Chad! Wait!" Chad turned around and stopped, letting Troy catch up.

Chad had a lot of different emotions in his eyes. Confusion, anger, concern. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, but ultimately opened it again and said, "Troy. You quit basketball? How could you do that? Is there something you need to tell me? Is everything okay? You quit!" Chad wasn't finding it easy to find one emotion and stick to it. Troy sighed and looked down at his feet.

"I know. I'm sorry, but my dad hates me and I really can't be doing all of this and deal with everything at home."

Chad looked at Troy with a pensive look on his face, then his face was all concern. "Troy, is he beating you?"

The words seemed to hit Troy like a truck, but he couldn't say he didn't expect Chad to ask. Even though Troy knew the answer, he just couldn't find it within himself to answer. So he just remained quiet. Chad crossed his arms, true worry encroaching on every feature. "Fuck, man... he's beating you! That bastard! I'm gonna kill him." Troy immediately threw his hand over Chad's mouth and loudly said, "SHH! You can't say that! I... I don't want anyone to know."

Chad's look went from concerned to horrified as he stepped back and Troy dropped his hand. "Shit, you admitted it..." He then looked at Troy's face and saw the same face that has always been there. "Troy, you have to do something about it." Troy nodded, saying, "I know. I am. I turn eighteen in May and I'm leaving. I just have to get through until then. That's why... that's why I want you to know: so I can talk to you about it. I wanna tell Gabs about it, but she's mad at me." At this, Troy looked a little sad, but took a deep breath and tried not to think about Gabriella.

Chad nodded his head, but still looked like he had seen a ghost. "Well I won't say anything unless you need me. But maybe you should stay over my house tonight. Give you a break from... everything." Chad shuddered at the thought of Jack beating Troy. "And as for this whole Gabby thing, you should talk to her. I'm sure she'd understand if you told her what was going on."

Troy nodded his head and said, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

Chad smiled and nodded. "Yup, I'm right." He put his arm around Troy, who immediately pulled away. Chad looked worriedly at him before turning around and walking down the stairs. "C'mon... let's go eat."

Troy smiled at the aspect of food and followed his best friend down the stairs.

* * *

Troy followed Chad into the house and was met with the awesome smell of roasted chicken. Chad's mom turned around and was surprised to see Troy standing there. "Troy! What a surprise! It's so nice to see you again! Are you staying for dinner?" Troy opened his mouth to respond, but Chad beat him to it and said, "Actually, I invited Troy to spend the night." Mrs. Danforth shrugged her shoulders and smiled at Troy. "That's fine. It's so nice to see you, Troy!"

Troy couldn't help but smile at Chad's mom. She was always so warm and nice. Troy found himself wishing he has a family like this. He went into the kitchen with Chad and they both helped set the table and do whatever else Mrs. Danforth needed. Just as dinner was almost done, Mr. Danforth walked in the door from work. He put his jacket in the closet and walked into the kitchen to kiss Mrs. Danforth hello. He saw Troy and smiled. "Hey, Troy. You here for dinner?" Troy smiled and nodded, saying, "Yeah. Chad invited me for the night, too." Mr. Danforth nodded and said, "Cool. You know you're always welcome."

They all sat down at the table and started eating. Troy found himself yearning to be able to sit at a table for dinner every night with his family. He remained pretty quiet during dinner, letting Chad discuss the day's events with his parents. Every once in a while, Troy would be asked a question, but for the most part, he just ate the delicious chicken.

After dinner, Troy and Chad got up and cleaned up for Mrs. Danforth. troy said, "Thank you so much for dinner. It was so good." Mrs. Danforth smiled appreciatively and said, "Thanks Troy. I'm glad you liked it."

Troy and Chad finally made their way upstairs to hang out. Troy immediately took his math book out of his bag and opened it. He stared blankly at the page for a few seconds before rolling his eyes and slamming it closed. There was no point in trying to understand math anymore. Chad walked into the room with a bunch of blankets and pillows in his arms. He threw them on the floor and Troy started to make a makeshift bed from them. He sat down on the blankets and looked back at Chad who had since sat on his bed.

Chad looked at Troy and said, "So... how did all of this start with your dad?"

Troy wasn't too surprised that Chad was so curious. After all, he only wanted to help. Troy took a deep breath and said, "Well, he hated me ever since my mom left and he just started hitting me. Fuck is he strong. I could barely fight him off and now I don't even bother anymore. He does have a girlfriend, even though it's only been a few weeks. And... well she made him think I hit her and he... well, he..." Troy shuddered and closed his eyes, refusing to finish his sentence or thought. Chad didn't push, either.

The conversation shifted gears into normal teen guy topics, making Troy feel like everything was the way it was when his family was a family. Troy glanced at the clock and noticed that time had flown and it was approaching one in the morning. Troy almost laughed and said, "Chad, I think we'd better get to bed. It's really late." Chad looked at the clock and smiled. "Wow... yeah I guess we should." He stood up and took his shirt and pants off before slipping into bed. Troy stood up and did the same, but heard a gasp from Chad and looked over, not sure if something was wrong. "Chad, everything okay?" Chad only looked at Troy with a horrified look and said, "What the fuck did he do to you?"

Troy immediately lost the color in his face, having completely forgotten about his dad. He looked down and actually gasped himself because he never looked at himself in the mirror that morning. He walked over to the bathroom and Chad followed. He looked in the mirror and just stared at himself sadly. He was pretty much completely black and blue, with huge dark stripes littering his back and chest. Chad repeated his question and Troy sighed. "Remember when I said this chick made Jack think I hit her? Well, he believed her and... he, uhh... found a pipe-type thing and... well... yeah..." He finished, gesturing to his body in order to tell Chad what he did. Chad just looked at Troy with a sad expression. "Troy, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. How are you going to get through until May? Come live with me!"

Troy smiled at the aspect of living with Chad and his parents, but shook his head. "No, I can't. But thank you. And I'll be fine because I'll have my friends. It's only about five or six months..." Troy was kind of disappointed that he had to deal with his dad for five more months, but Christmas was quickly approaching. It will be over soon. Right?

Chad just shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words to describe what he was feeling. Instead he just said, "We should get to bed." Troy nodded and went back t the blankets on the floor, quickly falling into a deep sleep. Chad, however, didn't get any sleep. The battered look of his friend was burnt into his head and he couldn't believe anyone would do that to such a great person.


End file.
